“After striving in vain to uphold the tottering republic, Cicero lived long enough to perceive that the catastrophe was inevitable and that neither could he retard it, nor Caesar accelerate it. Rome was no longer a small commonwealth of free citizens, rendered more or less equal in rank by a substantial equality of fortune, attainments and political power. It had become a populous and unwieldy empire, composed of many conquered nations and tribes, differing in race, religion, language, history and degrees of social development. The republican constitution, which had sufficiently well fitted the infancy of this state, and which, had the state grown less rapidly, might have been gradually altered to suit its greatly altered manhood, was, under the circumstances, antequated and useless, as a means of repressing disorder, or preserving the peace.”

Mr. Leibowitz was appointed chief operating officer in the first quarter of 2010. In this capacity, he is responsible for operations management, global cash execution and global listings. He previously served as group executive vice president and head of U.S. Execution and Global Technology from 2007 until 2009. He joined NYSE Euronext in 2007, having served as managing director and chief operating officer, Americas Equities, at UBS Investment Bank. Prior to joining UBS in 2004, Mr. Leibowitz held the position of executive vice president, co-head of Schwab Capital Markets. He currently serves on the board of National Stock Exchange of India and has also served on many industry boards and committees, among them the Market Structure Committee of the former Securities Industry Association (now SIFMA).

Larry Leibowitz

As stated above, Leibowitz was also formerly managing director and chief operating officer at UBS, “the leading global wealth manager, a leading global investment banking and securities firm, and one of the largest global asset managers”, as they describe themselves. A rather influential man, indeed.

So Larry’s brother Jon calls the President of the United States, Barack Obama, “dude” on international televison when Jon catches Mr. Obama bullshitting his way through an interview (“In fairness, Larry Summers did a heck of a job…”).

There’s been some hubbub about this moment in various media, but the mainstream pundorks appear to be studiously avoiding the obvious: by calling Obama “dude”, Stewart showed his perception of his relationship to the President of the United States. And why wouldn’t the brother of one of the more influential people on Wall Street see himself as being as equal in influence, if not surpassing it, to the president?

A few days following the interview, Stewart drew more people to Washington, DC than Obama could ever hope to draw. Of course, Stewart has banking and media behind him.